Monday, January 5, 2009

"Gyotaku is believed to have originated during the 1800’s by Japanese fishermen as a way to preserve the memory of a prize catch. There are two basic methods of gyotaku, the indirect (kansetsu-ho) and direct (chokusetsu-ho). Indirect printing is done by covering the fish with paper or silk, which is then painted with water-based pigments using a silk-covered cotton ball called a 'tampo.' Direct printing is done by applying black sumi ink directly to the fish. Shoji paper is then pressed against the inked surface to get an exact mirror image. After the initial impression is made, watercolors add life to the printed fish."

This site is generally about our visceral, inexplicable, and sometimes ecstatic connection to animals and/or artistic representations of animals. It attempts to understand what animals mean to us both as living creatures and as powerful symbols that reach deep into our mind's eye and shape many aspects of our own consciousness.

Anthroporphism is something we seem biologically programed to do. As humans, we are prone to sentimentalize objects, ideas, and of course, animals to fit our perceptual, behavioral, and emotional apparatus. Since we can never fully comprehend the inner life of an animal, how shall we treat their "otherness" as we share life on Earth together? With respect to be certain. Still, we are left with our own skewed and humanized impressions, which manifest over and over in our culture - powerful reminders of our chosen "departure" from the nature and our animal cousins.